Contentious Actors on Social Media and Implications for Advocacy in Digital Democracy


Allison Koh

PhD Researcher


Department of Political Economy
King’s College London
July 4, 2023

Background




Education 🎓

  • PhD in Political Science at the Hertie School, exp. 2023
  • MPP in Policy Analysis at the Hertie School, 2020
  • BSc in Economics and Asian Studies at Tulane University, 2016

Methods Experience 📊

  • Survey data
  • Observational/Quasi-experimental research designs
  • Computational methods
  • Consulting

Affiliations 👥

Current Research

Pro-Government Social Media on the Global Stage

Pro-Government Social Media on the Global Stage

[Another example here]

  • States are increasingly integrating foreign platforms into their strategies for controlling information flows beyond their borders.
  • Overarching and sub-RQs

How do authoritarian regimes use social media to shape the global public sphere?

They can leverage facets of national identity to discredit diaspora regime critics.

Hypotheses

  • Gender: Women easier to attack
  • Language of the “oppressor”

Method for stance detection

  • Multilingual BERT + Active Learning

Case study on Pro-CCP Twitter’s communication with Uyghur activists-in-exile

How do authoritarian regimes use social media to shape the global public sphere?

They benefit from platform policies that expand the reach of state actors globally.

Main Takeaways

  • Autocracies and their proxies are capable of manipulating social media to curtail the global public sphere in their favor—even on platforms where their governments do not have direct provision over content moderation.

Contributions to ADVODID

LGBTQ+ and Anti-LGBTQ+ Advocacy in Digital Democracy

 

 

[Anti-]LGBTQ+ Advocacy \(\leftrightarrow\) Politics

  • Global increase in Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in 2023
  • Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation spans multiple issue areas
  • Social media accelerates online and offline organizing around LGBTQ+ politics
    (Ritholtz, Koh, and Gohdes 2022)

Research Questions

  Use  

  • How are openly LGBTQ+ politicians represented in online and offline debates about LGBTQ+ policy?
  • Are some interest group types more responsive to online debates about LGBTQ+ discourse compared to others?

  Impact  

  • What are the effects of politicians’ social media discussions around LGBTQ+ issues on offline and offline protest participation?
  • Compared to anti-LGBTQ+ groups, are pro-LGBTQ+ groups more likely to respond to social media calls to action?

  Democratic Consequences  

  • What is the relationship between citizens’ participation in anti-LGBTQ+ discourse on social media and support for right-wing policies?
  • How does a government’s technical capacity factor into politicians’ involvement in online discussions around LGBTQ+ politics?

Collaborations at Kings College London

ADVODID

  • Theory Development ↔︎️ Computational Methods

Department of Political Economy

  • QPE

Something something ECRs and/or interdisciplinary initiatives

  • Political theory group

Thank you!

koh@hertie-school.org

https://allisonkoh.github.io/

@allisonwkoh@mastodon.social🎓

@allisonwkoh@fosstodon.org📊

@allisonkoh_

References

Ritholtz, Samuel, Allison Koh, and Anita Gohdes. 2022. “Fanning the Flames of Hate: The Transnational Diffusion of Online Anti-LGBT+ Rhetoric and Offline Mobilisation.” GNET.